Special consideration

Special consideration – assessments

Special consideration exists to enable you to maintain academic progress in the event of extremely difficult circumstances.

You may be eligible for special consideration if:

you have been hampered, to a significant degree, by illness or extraordinary cause in studying for a unit;

you have been prevented by illness or other extraordinary cause from preparing or presenting for a component of assessment, or part of a component of assessment; or,

you have been, to a significant degree, adversely affected by illness or other extraordinary cause, during the performance of a component of assessment.

Examples include:

study hampered by acute illness or condition

prevented from presenting an assessment task by a car accident

prevented from preparing for an assessment task by unexpected flooding in your primary residence

acute illness during an exam

family bereavement during assessment preparation period.

In every case, you must provide documentary evidence to support your application.

The rules for applying for special consideration also apply to tests or assessments undertaken in test conditions (e.g. mid-semester tests).

Outcomes

There are five possible outcomes of an application for special consideration relating to a course assessment:

your assessment may be deferred

you may be granted an extended period for assessment

alternative arrangements for assessment are approved

you are allowed to re-do one or more assessment tasks

special consideration is not granted (a full reason will be provided).

Special consideration – exams

You are expected to sit all your exams at the scheduled time.

If unable to attend an exam due to illness, misadventure or other extraordinary circumstance beyond your control, you can apply for and, if successful, be granted permission to sit a special exam at a later date.

Please note:

applications for special consideration must be submitted using the appropriate online form (see apply for special consideration, below) by no later than 5pm of the third working day after the originally scheduled exam date

all special exams for on-campus students are usually held at Swinburne's Hawthorn campus

all special exams for OUA and Hawthorn Online students are held at the end of the following study period

applications must meet Swinburne’s compliance requirements to be eligible.

The possible outcomes of an application for special consideration are:

If you do not sit a scheduled special exam a zero mark will be recorded. Swinburne does not normally allow for special exams to be rescheduled unless the circumstances that prevented you sitting the special exam were extraordinary and severe.

Note for Foundation Year and UniLink students: If your application for special consideration is approved and you’re awarded a special exam, you will sit this exam on the Thursday or Friday of the week following the formal exam period for that teaching period. You must be available for that sitting; no alternative will be arranged.

How to apply for special consideration

Applications for special consideration must be submitted using the appropriate application form.

Applications that do not meet Swinburne's requirements may be deemed ineligible. Your application may also be refused if you have not met all other mandatory requirements for successful completion of the unit, such as any specified hurdle requirements.

Application forms

Undergraduate, postgraduate, Open Universities Australia and Hawthorn Online students

Swinburne Online students

Vocational education and Swinburne Professional students

If you are a vocational education or Swinburne Professional student, download, fill out and submit the following form to VE-Progressions (VE-progressions@swin.edu.au). Your application should be submitted no later than 5pm on the third working day after the submission date for the assessment task for which you're requesting special consideration.

Foundation Year and UniLink students

If you are a Foundation Year or UniLink student, download, fill out and submit the following form. You need to lodge this application with studentHQ no later than 5pm on the third working day after the submission date for the piece of assessment/exam for which you're requesting special consideration.